1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to opto-electronic detection of molecular substances and, in particular, to a multi-function opto-electronic detection apparatus configurable into different modes for the detection of molecular substances.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fundamental theories for molecular detection are advancing continuously, especially in recent years. B. Liedberg et al. in 1983, for example, introduced a detecting system based on surface plasmon resonance effect. Resolution of detection achieved was up to the level of ng/ml. H Yang et al. in 1994 reported a technology based on electrochemistry fluorescent detection which achieved resolutions in the range from 10 pg to 5 ng per ml. Brain Trotter et al. published an article in Optical Engineering, May 1999 disclosing a technology for optical immunosensor assay detection based on fixed-polarizer ellipsometry. The technology demonstrated a precision better than 4 pg/ml. It led to practical utilization of the fixed-polarizer ellipsometry technology in biochemical applications.
Biomedical detection is involved with both the quantitative and the qualitative observation. Three-dimensional imagery are becoming ever more essential. Most of the popular and future detection systems rely on optical microscopy, which has insufficient resolution based on conventional technology. Utilization of scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) leads to damage to assay samples, and some of these scanning need to have pre-processing or the detection operation may have to be conducted in a vacuum. More, conventional opto-electronic detection systems are limited to single-incident angle measurements. Conventional biomedical or chemical sensors are limited in detection flexibility. Further, dedicated detection system is required for detected detection.